The Secret Behind the Door
by itlnbrt
Summary: September 29th IPC Challenge Entry. O/S A bored fifteen year old, Bella, finds a surprise behind a secret door.


**One hour - no prewriting**

**One secret ingredient**

**September 29****th**** IPC Challenge**

**Winner mslizbeth - on Twitter**

**My score and entry below**

_~TSBtD~_

**TM Franklin**

1. Secret Ingredient: 4

2. Originality:4

3. Overall Presentation:4

4. Comments: I really liked the concept of your story, the idea of the power being passed on for some reason from mother to daughter. This screams for more, though... it's definitely interesting and could become a longer story as Bella tries to discover more about her power.

_~TSBtD~_

**Credorosa**

1. Secret Ingredient: 5

2. Originality: 5

3. Overall Presentation: 4

4. Comments: By far my favorite. The writer completely embraced the SI and went with a slow build up completely clarifying the power and all the emotions that went with it. The back story of her mother's experience balanced it all out. Really a great job by the writer, I am completely impressed!

_~TSBtD~_

**Tellingmelies **

1. Secret Ingredient: 3

2. Originality: 4

3. Overall Presentation: 3

4. Comments: It took awhile for the story to reveal itself, and the way it was writen kept slipping from present tense to past tense. but I did like the concept

_~TSBtD~_

Being fifteen and an only child is difficult. I'm too old to stay in and "play" but I'm too young to go to the mall with my friends. At least that's what my parents say.

So when you're fifteen and bored you come up with creative things to do inside and hopefully get on your parents nerves to they'll finally give in and send you out with your friends.

Our house is old, about two hundred years old; it was built in the 1800s. It's a big three story home of Victorian style. I think it's quite pretty with it's dark wood trim and high ceilings. My parents have preserved it well, except when they redid the basement to make a rec room.

That's where I am now. I'm sitting on the big, beige microfiber couch just looking around the room. The walls are covered with ugly paneling; well I think it's ugly. My mom said it was cheaper than plastering the walls.

Anyway, I've already watched a few movies, played Wii, and tried to read _Millicent Marie_ for a while, but I'm still bored.

I spotted a bouncy ball on the floor in the corner and thought of something to occupy me for a while. I picked it up and began bouncing it against the wall.

I bounced the ball on the floor, it bounced against the wall, and then back to me. I am doing this repeatedly never hitting the same place on the wall twice.

After about the twentieth bounce I saw the wall open a bit. _Oh man, I think I broke the paneling. My mom is going to kill me. _

"Bella, what are you doing down there? What's that noise?" my mom asked.

"Nothing mom. It was the ball, but I'm done now," I yelled back.

I walk over to the wall to see the damage when I notice it's actually popped open a bit. I stick my fingers on the open crack and pull a bit. The wall comes out toward me and I continue to open it. I realize it's a door.

I wonder if anyone knows this is here. I shrug to myself and continue to open it all the way and look in. It's completely black. I can't see a thing.

I turn around and scan the basement to see if there's a flashlight around. I'm sure there is as we have them in every room in case of blackouts.

_Ah, there._ I see it over on the bookshelf. Once I grab it I go back to the open door, turn on the flashlight, and tentatively walk in.

Oh, it seems it's nothing more than a storage room, but I wonder why the door was hidden.

I flash the light all around the room trying to get my bearings and I see a metal chain hanging from the ceiling. I flash the light upward and see it's a light. I pull the chain and the whole room is illuminated. But I jumped back.

Something happened when I touched that chain. I saw things. Flashes of people doing things. It happened so quickly I must have imagined it.

I shook it off. I was just scaring myself. I looked around some more and saw a bunch of boxes over to my right. I'll just go over and see what they are. I remember when I was little my mom would store all my baby toys. I wonder if these are them.

The first box I found I opened and saw papers. I looked closer because why would they store so many papers. They seemed like medical papers and important stuff. However, I saw quick flashes in my mind again. They would happen so quickly I couldn't tell what they were exactly.

I didn't think anything of it and I kept searching through the box and found a smaller box at the bottom. When I touched the box I saw it clear as day... my mother placing an envelope in the box and closing the lid. I shook my head to try and erase the images. _What was happening to me?_ I slid it out from under all of the loose papers and opened it.

The box was made of a green pretty cardboard. It was smaller than a shoebox, but bigger than a jewelry box. The longer I touched the box the clearer the images were.

With my hands clutching the box I saw my mom wearing a yellow sweater. I've never seen that sweater before. Her hair is longer and had more grey. She looks older and is sitting in a room I had never seen before either. This whole thing was so strange.

I looked in the box and saw the envelope that she had placed in there in my image. Her name was handwritten across the front _Renee._

I picked up the envelope and more flashes came to me. A man sitting at a desk writing a letter, placing it inside the envelope, and sealing it. I saw him write my mom's name on the front. The man was unfamiliar to me. He was young looking. Well younger than my mom and dad. He has blond hair and blue eyes. The flashes are not letting me focus, but I can see the images semi-clearly.

I decide to open the envelope and pull out the letter. I receive another flash and it's the same man with almost the same image of him at a desk.

I read the letter.

_August 27, 2017_

_My dearest Renee,_

_I am so happy to have met you and to have you in my life. Being a part of your life has been the best experience and one I will never forget or take for granted. _

_Thank you so much for accepting my marriage proposal. You have made me the happiest man in the world._

_I promise to love you always and work hard to make you happy till the end of time. You are special and should be cherished forever. Thank you for choosing me, Renee._

_With love always, _

_Phil_

I drop the letter and the box like it's on fire. I scoot back afraid of what I just read and what has happened to me.

_What in the world is this. This letter is dated five years in the future. How is this letter here? How can I see these images. _

Something is not right. Ever since I walked into this room I've been seeing things.

I quickly walked around the room and saw my little tricycle. I touched it and I saw myself at five years old with my pink dress on riding my tricycle. My dad, Charlie, was running behind me in case I fell.

I pulled my hand back. How do I explain this?

I have so many questions. Who wrote that letter to my mother? They must have made a mistake with the date. There is no way she could have received a letter from the future. Well, there should be no way I could see things that happened by touching stuff either, but I am.

I ran out to the basement and called my mother.

"Mom! Mom, come here, please!" I screamed.

"I'm coming, Bella. Hold your horses."

When she came down the stairs and saw the door open she paled. "Bella, what have you done?" She ran to me and looked at the door.

She grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "What did you do?"

I put my hands on hers to stop her. "Mom what is that in there? How come I can see visions? Do you know?"

"Bella you were never supposed to find that room." She walked into the room and I followed.

"Oh my God. It's worse. You've looked inside the box?"

I was freaking out. Everything I did was wrong. She's upset, physically shaking, and looks very angry.

"Mom, please tell me what is going on?"

"Bella, you were never to come in here and find out this way."

"Find out what, mom?"

"Come sit down we have a lot to talk about," she said. She gestured the seat next to her and patted the couch cushion.

"I was exploring in the woods behind the house one day just hiking and I touched a tree and found myself in the future. It was our town, but about twenty years in the future when that happened. I was about twenty years old and it was right before I met your father.

I met a man there, stayed there for a few years until I could figure out how to get home. We were engaged to be married and on the eve of our wedding night I went walking in the woods and found myself back here.

You know this house used to be your grandmother's. Well when I got back time had not passed here, but it did there in the future. It was very confusing.

Anyway, I saved some of my mementos from that time in that box" She pointed to the box I opened.

"But when I came back I had powers. I could touch things and see what happened with it before me. Like if you touched that book I could touch it and see you touching it, reading it, and putting it away. If that's what you did with it."

"Oh so that's why when I touched things I saw flashes–images?"

She nodded.

"But mom, why now? Why did it start now for me?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you touched that box and letter." Her eyebrows were scrunched in concentration.

"Am I like this forever now?" I asked.

"Yes, honey. I think so. I've been like this ever since I came back from the future."

"Does daddy know?" She nodded again. "Yes he does. He had to know. I was not myself for a long time and when we met he would have noticed my odd behavior."

"Should I be scared? I mean will anything bad happen to me?"

"No I don't think so. It's weird Bella. I never really spoke about this with anyone except your father. But no one that knew anything about it so I don't have a lot of information only what I've learned on my own. I've been alone with this. And I never thought you'd get it."

I hugged my mom tightly. She was clearly upset this happened to me, and I actually thought it was going to be very cool. Imagine the possibilities! "Thanks mom. It'll be okay."

She looked at me with a sad smile. "You always were stronger and braver than me, baby." She smoothed my hair from my face and kissed my forehead.

_~TSBtD~_

This o/s is not beta'd as the contest is only one hour, a secret ingredient given at start time, and writing is not preplanned. It's a great challenge. If you are at all interested in the next one, check out their blog. Iron Pen Challenge .com


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